When hearing the casting choices for Practical Magic 2, I was fond of all choices I recognized – but the name that stood out most to me was Lee Pace. Pace was in The Hobbit trilogy as Thranduil, the Elven King and years prior to that, he was in Pushing Daisies as the pastry-making life-bringing protagonist, Ned. One is an incredibly well-known literary series turned cinematic series – the other is an episodic series. Both of these are series that I was and am still quite fond of for their stories and casts. Pushing Daisies might very well be added to my TV series rewatch binge-list after my binging of Bones is over. We’ll call it a metaphorical rock, paper, scissors between Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me.
Now, Practical Magic is one of the most-favored magical films for myself and seemingly many others. Pre-Harry Potter films, Practical Magic stood out to me magical movie-wise alongside The Craft and primarily the first film of the Halloweentown cinematic series of which a friend of mine played the younger skeptic brother, Dylan to the eldest witch-to-be sister and protagonist, Marnie.
Now let’s take the skeleton-driven taxi from Halloweentown on over to an only recently learned factoid [for me] that Practical Magic (the first in the series) is based off a novel by the same name by Alice Hoffman. She did write two prequels and one sequel which will be our Practical Magic 2. Hoffman’s chronological order of her books as listed on her site: Magic Lessons, The Rules of Magic, Practical Magic, & The Book of Magic. The last two are the ones who were and are being made into cinematic works of art. The release dates of her books do not match the chronological order of the stories and sometimes they are confused. On Hoffman’s site, she differentiates the two visually as well. Below, you will see the order of release – not the chronological order.
I have to say, this film is filled with stars to the point that it’s straight up Orion’s belt with a few extra starry loops added. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman – the original main starlets, are returning alongside Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest – who both played their characters’ aunts. With our Elven King, Lee Pace, Cobra Kai‘s Xolo Maridueña, House of the Dragon‘s Solly McLeod, and a certain well-known actress from Game of Thrones, Maisie Williams as well – I can see a pull from many different audiences to see this film. Hats off to the casting directors on this one. Now, for the rest of you, we’ve got magic to do…
Practical Magic to be released September 18th, 2026…
A/N: If you go to an AMC, it’ll be interesting to see one of the lead actresses in their welcoming video and then shortly after in the film itself.